By Nicolas Quiroga
The Greek National Opera is set to present Verdi’s “Rigoletto” starting on June 2, 2022.
The new production will be directed by Artistic Director Katerina Evangelatos, who will set the opera in a 1980s Italian town.
The repertory classic will star Dimitris Paksoglou as the Duke of Mantua, Dimitris Tiliakos as Rigoletto, Christina Poulitsi as Gilda, Petros Magoulas as Sparafucile, and Mary-Ellen Nesi as Maddalena. Dimitris Tiliakos will conduct the GNO Orchestra and Choir.
“The cycle of violence depicted by Verdi in his ‘Rigoletto’ is here transferred to a self-contained little world in the Italian provinces during the 1980s, where organized crime reigns supreme,” said Evangelatos in an official press statement. “Corruption, criminality, rape—this is the true face of what is a pietistic, conservative, and superstitious society. Eva Manidaki’s set—a timeworn Italian country mansion that stows the brutality and darkness of the work’s characters—is perfectly embedded within its physical Odeon setting, while Alan Hranitelj’s costumes complete the picture of a society in steep decline.”.
There will be subsequent performances of the Verdi classic on June 5, 8 and 11, 2022. The work is being presented as part of the Athens Epidaurus Festival at the Odeon of Herodes Atticus.
By Francisco Salazar
The Ópera de Tenerife has announced its 2022-23 season featuring seven operatic productions.
The season opens with “Fuenteovejuna” by Jorge Muñiz with Santiago Serrate conducting a production by Miguel del Arco. María Miró, José Luis Sola, Felipe Bou, Luis Cansino, and David Astorga star.
Performance Dates: Oct. 18-22, 2022
Verdi’s “Un ballo in maschera” will star José Bros, Sergey Kaydalov, Monica Zanettin, Enkeledja Shkoza, and Sofía Esparza. Alessandro d’Agostini conducts a production by Marina Bianchi.
Performance Dates: Nov. 22-26, 2022
Nancy Fabiola presents an evening with friends that include Yolanda Auyanet, Liping Zhang, Rubén Amoretti, Ramón Vargas, and José Carbó. José Miguel Pérez-Sierra conducts.
Performance Date: Dec. 10, 2022
Menotti’s “The old maid and the thief” will star Silvia Zorita, Fernando Campero, Candelaria González, and Estefanía Perdomo. Javier Lanis conducts a production by Alicia Peraza.
Performance Dates: Jan. 21-29, 2023
“Der Zwerg” by Zemlinsky will star Mojca Erdmann, Beatriz Díaz, and Philipp Jekal. Alessandro Palumbo conducts a production by Daniel Jeanneteau.
Performance Dates: March 7-11, 2023
Britten’s “The little sweep” will be conducted by Maya Barsacq and directed by Stefano Monti. Carmen Mateo, Ramiro Maturana, Mar Campo, César Arrieta, and Laura del Río star.
Performance Dates: April 15 & 16, 2023
The season closes with “Tannhäuser” under the musical direction of Pedro Halffter.
Performance Dates: June 9 & 10, 2023
By Francisco Salazar
The Celebrity Series of Boston has announced its 2022-23 season with numerous vocal performances. Here is a look at those concerts.
Anne Sofie von Otter and Kristian Bezuidenhout perform a recital.
Performance Date: Nov. 5, 2022
In Requiem: Fire in the Air of the Earth, a new work co-commissioned by Celebrity Series, Kyle Abraham poignantly reimagines Mozart’s Requiem. This collaboration unites electronic music pioneer Jlin’s extraordinary sense of rhythm with Abraham’s deep grounding in classical ballet, hip-hop, modern dance, and street dance.
Performance Date: Nov. 18 & 19, 2022
Lawrence Brownlee and Kevin Miller performs a program of song based on texts by poets and authors of the Harlem Renaissance set to brand-new music that he is commissioning from acclaimed Black composers.
Performance Date: March 5, 2023
Fatma Said makes her U.S. recital debut with guitarist Rafael Aguirre.
Performance Date: March 30, 2023
Davóne Tines and Adam Nielsen perform a program entitled Recital No. 1: MASS. Tines will invite listeners to re-contextualize Bach arias, Caroline Shaw’s Mass, and religious ritual. Woven into this are spiritual arrangements by Tyshawn Sorey, Moses Hogan, and Margaret Bonds, as well as Julius Eastman’s powerful a cappella work, Prelude to the Holy Presence of Joan d’Arc.
Performance Date: April 26, 2023
By Logan Martell
On May 13, 2022, Maryland Lyric Opera will conclude its spring season with two concert performances of Verdi’s grand opera “Don Carlo.”
Music Director Louis Salemno will lead the MDLO Orchestra & Chorus, as well as a cast comprised of Arturo Chacón-Cruz in the title role, Elaine Alvarez as Elisabetta, Andrea Silvestrelli as King Filippo, Mark Delavan as Rodrigo, Catherine Martin as Princess Eboli, and Kenneth Kellogg as the Grand Inquisitor.
“My team has assembled one of the finest casts to grace an American stage this season, and I know our audience is excited to hear their collaboration with Louis Salemno, a conductor who knows this iconic score inside-out,” says MDLO Founder & Artistic Director Brad Cark. “After our grandly successful ‘Turandot’ earlier this year, we look forward to returning once again to Strathmore, the most acoustically perfect venue in all of Maryland. It’s the best venue possible to show off our dedicated MDLO Orchestra and Chorus, as well as the new and enhanced visual effects that make our productions as dramatically engaging as they are sonically satisfying.”
Performances will be held on May 13 and 15, 2022, at The Music Center at Strathmore in North Bethesda, Maryland. The show will run for approximately three hours and 20 minutes with one intermission.
By David Salazar
Opera Atelier has unveiled its 2022-23 season.
The company will kick things off with Purcell’s “Dido and Aeneas.” The showcase will star Meghan Lindsay, Colin Ainsworth, Measha Brueggergosman-Lee, Melody Louledjian, Spencer Britten, Cynthia Akemi Smithers, and Danielle MacMillon. David Fallis conducts.
“We are delighted to celebrate our return to the Elgin Theatre with Opera Atelier’s most internationally-acclaimed production of ‘Dido and Aeneas,’” said Marshall Pynkoski, one of the Co-Artistic Directors of the company, in an official press statement. “Opera Atelier’s Dido and Aeneas has toured throughout the US, France, England, Switzerland, Italy, Germany, South Korea and Singapore – always invited to major venues including the Houston Grand Opera, the BBC Proms (Royal Albert Hall), the Seoul Arts Center and the Royal Opera House (Versailles).”
Performance Dates: Oct. 20-23, 2022
The season will also feature Händel’s “The Resurrection” with choreography by Lajeunesse Zingg. It stars Carla Huhtanen, Colin Ainsworth, Meghan Lindsay, Allyson McHardy, and Douglas Williams.
“We are thrilled with the opportunity to mount one of the most remarkable accounts of the Resurrection story for a live audience,” Pynkoski noted. “Händel’s expansive vision for this story of victorious rebirth is widely considered one of his greatest works. Not only is the production a feast for the senses – from the impressive set design to the inspired choreography and thrilling score – it is also a moving tribute to the universal story of sacrifice and redemption, as embodied by a heroic protagonist.”
Performance Dates: April 6-9, 2023
By Logan Martell
On May 24, 2022, Park Avenue’s Recital Series will continue with a concert from baritone Justin Austin and pianist Howard Watkins.
The program will explore Austin’s perspective on what it means to be an American through the lens of composers such as Aaron Copland, Leonard Bernstein, Kurt Weill, Damien Sneed, and art songs by Ricky Ian Gordon which set to music poems by Langston Hughes.
Austin has recently made his debut with the Metropolitan Opera in their production of Brett Deans’s “Hamlet,” and will appear as a soloist in The Oratorio Society of New York’s upcoming performance of Mendelssohn’s “Elijah” at Carnegie Hall. Currently a student under Catherine Maliftano, Austin has performed with The Glimmerglass Festival, the Bayerische Staatsoper, Munich Opera Festival, and more.
Watkins currently serves as an Assistant Conductor at the Met, and has performed worldwide with leading artists such as Diana Damrau, Joyce DiDonato, Thomas Hampson, Matthew Polenzani, and more. He has held faculty positions at The Juilliard School, Merola Opera Program, Yale School of Music, Tanglewood Music Center, Aspen Music Festival, and Tokyo International Vocal Arts Academy, among others.
Tickets are available for $55, with audience members being required to provide proof of vaccination and ID. Masks are required within the venue.
By David Salazar
Boston Baroque has unveiled its 2022-23 season, which will be its 50th anniversary season.
For the purposes of this article, our focus will be solely on vocal performances.
It all kicks off with Bach’s Mass in B Minor. Amanda Forsythe, Sonja Tengblad, Tamara Mumford, Nicholas Phan, and Kevin Deas will be the soloists. Music Director Martin Pearlman conducts.
Performance Dates: Oct. 15 & 16, 2022
Susanna Phillips, Ann McMahon Quintero, Richard Croft, and Sidney Outlaw will be the soloists for Händel’s “Messiah.” Music Director Martin Pearlman conducts.
Performance Dates: Dec. 3 & 4, 2022
The season will come to a close with performances of Gluck’s “Iphigénie en Tauride.” Wendy Bryn Harmer takes on the title role. The remaining cast members include Jesse Blumberg, William Burden, and David McFerrin. Music Director Martin Pearlman conducts.
Performance Dates: April 20 – 23, 2022
One performance in each run will be streamed live via IDAGIO and will be available on-demand for 30 days thereafter.
By David Salazar
Pittsburgh Opera is set to broadcast the world premiere of “In a Grove” on May 15, 2022.
The showcase, which is based on the short story by Ryunosuke Akutagawa, will be available to stream on YouTube for free.
The opera, which is based on the source material that was also the basis for the historic and award-winning film “Rashomon,” will star Yazid Gray as the woodcutter and outlaw, Andrew Turner as the policeman and the man, Madeline Ehlinger as Leona Raines and Leona’s mother, and Chuanyuan Liu as the Priest and Medium.
Anthony Walker conducts the production, which will be directed by Mary Birnbaum.
“In a Grove” premiered on Feb. 19, 2022 and ran for a total of six performances through March 3, 2022.
By Nicolas Quiroga
The Oregon Symphony has named Deanna Tham its new Associate Conductor.
In her role, Tham will support the artistic development of the orchestra in close collaboration with Music Director David Danzmayr. She will also conduct concerts by popular classical, pop, youth, film and contemporary artists.
“I am so honored to join the Oregon Symphony’s conducting staff and look forward to working with its Music Director and the orchestra’s amazing group of musicians, plus Portland is a wonderfully unique city and I look forward to exploring and serving the community,” Tham said in an official statement.
Tham will commence her new role at the start of the 2022-2023 season, replacing current Associate Conductor Norman Huynh.
Tham is currently the Music Director of the Union Symphony Orchestra and has worked as Assistant Conductor of the Omaha Symphony, Jacksonville Symphony and the Chicago Sinfonietta. She has a professional studies certificate from the Cleveland Institute of Music in Orchestral Conducting and received her Master of Music from Northwestern University’s Honors Conducting Program. She also received his Bachelor of Fine Arts in Horn Performance from Carnegie Mellon University.
By Francisco Salazar
The Opéra de Toulon has announced its 2022-23 season featuring six opera productions.
Operas
Valerio Galli conducts Puccini’s “Tosca” in a production by Silvia Paoli. Keri Alkema, Riccardo Massi, and Daniel Miroslaw headline.
Performance Dates: Oct. 7-11, 2022
Adam’s “Si j’etais Roi” will be conducted by Robert Tuohy and directed by Marc Adam. The cast includes Armelle Khourdoïan, Eleonora Deveze, Stefan Cifolelli, Jean-Kristof Bouton, Laurent Alvaro, Valentin Thill, and Mikhael Piccone.
Performance Dates: Nov. 18-22, 2022
Offenbach’s “La Perichole” will ring in the New Year. Laurent Campellone conducts the production by Laurent Pelly. The cast includes Antoinette Dennefeld, Chloé Briot, Alix Le Saux, Valentine Lemercier, Natalie Pérez, Philippe Talbot, Alexandre Duhamel, Rodolphe Briand, and Lionel Lhote.
Performance Dates: Dec. 28-31, 2022
Gemma Summerfield, Marion Lebègue, Pauline Courtin, Vincenzo Nizzardo, Alasdair Kent, and Laurent Alvaro lead Mozart’s “Così fan tutte” with Karel Deseure conducting a production by Christophe Gayral.
Performance Dates: Jan. 27-31, 2023
Bernstein’s “Wonderful Town” will be conducted by Larry Blank and directed by Olivier Bénézech. The cast will include Jasmine Roy, Kelly Mathieson, Dalia Constantin, Sabrina Giordano, Ariane Pirie, Maxime de Toledo, Thomas Boutilier, Franck Lopez, Scott Emerson, Sinan Bertrand, and Julien Salvia.
Performance Dates: March 24-26, 2023
Ketevan Kemoklidze, Adriana González, Amadi Lagha, and David Bizic lead Bizet’s “Carmen.” Valerio Galli conducts the production by Henning Brockhaus.
Performance Dates: April 30-May 5, 2023
Concerts
Arie van Beek leads soloists Victor Julien-Laferrière and Marlène Assayag in music by Jules Matton, Shostakovich, Stravinsky.
Performance Date: April 7, 2023
